Preps Plus.

St. Ignatius pushes ahead

12-1-1 Wolfpack wants to know where it will end

St. Ignatius 3, Latin 1

St. Ignatius hasn't exactly been a synonym for girls soccer, but the Wolfpack and players like Amy Bedford are in the process of rewriting the thesaurus on Roosevelt Road.

Thursday's 3-1 non-conference victory over visiting Latin improved St. Ignatius' record to 12-1-1. All that's left for the Wolfpack are the GCAC playoffs and state tournament.

"We're waiting to see how far we can go with this," said Bedford, who scored her 10th goal of the season on a penalty kick in the first half. "We've been working really hard every day in practice and trying to improve our skills."

The junior is a sports writer for the school paper and probably could do a good job describing her team's progress. The Wolfpack won a regional title for the first time last season when she scored 20 goals.

This season St. Ignatius played regular Elite Eight visitor Lyons to a scoreless tie and beat conference rival Loyola for the first time.

Performances like that earned the Wolfpack the No. 2 seed in the Leyden sectional behind Lyons. Performances like the one against Latin (8-4-2) were further proof that coach Aaron Carpenter's team isn't an underdog anymore.

"These are the games that scare me the most," Carpenter said. "Latin is a respectable team in the city. But we're not used to being the team that others are going after.

"For the first time, other teams are coming out harder than we are. That used to be one of our attributes."

St. Ignatius still controlled Thursday's game. Bedford's penalty kick came in the ninth minute of the game after a Latin player was called for a hand ball in the penalty area. Then goals by Moe Bylina and freshman Bridget Mason--with an assist from Julie Tesmond--gave Carpenter's team a 3-0 lead.

Latin's goal came from Jackie Shiff, whose direct kick from the 18-yard-line was deflected into the net.

"We're not there yet [to being a top 10 team]," Carpenter said, "but we're realistic. We want to go farther than we've ever gone."

He and Bedford point to the team's defense as its key to advancing. Julie Tesmond, one of only two seniors on the team, along with Meg Lag, Leslie Pearl and freshman Katie Bock have been given the duty of stopping the other team.

"Teams don't come off the field and say, `Wow, this team [Ignatius] is really amazing,' " Carpenter said. "We find a way to win. That's been the theme all year."